Shadow Prison
by DragonScouter
Summary: The members of the B.A.U. travel to Helena, Montana to solve a series of multiple mutilations that have a unknown meaning. Plus the team meet their newest agent, and the agent isn't exactly what they were expecting.


**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

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**AN: Hey, this is my first Criminal Minds story, so go a little easy on me.**

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Ch. 1: The Newbie

Helena, Montana

It's a bright night. Music is filling the air on the outskirts of town. Many people have come to enjoy the concert being performed on the outskirts of the city. Kids are chasing each other while other people are enjoying the music being played. There are some couples making out at the back of the field. For the most part though, everyone around seems to be enjoying the relaxing time they are having away from their normal schedules. This concert, provided by the city council, was put on for exactly that reason. Many visitors had commented that the city was too focused on work and they didn't see many people relaxing and enjoying themselves. Now, once a month, the council would host some sort of fun activity for the community to do to relax. On the edge of the field, a figure clothed in black shook their head before becoming engulfed in the shadows.

Unfortunately, not everyone is enjoying this fun filled night. In the middle of the city, Officer Brad Stratton was responding to a call that an anonymous person had left. The person had said that they had heard screaming and crashing noises coming from the warehouse that Brad was currently at. As Officer Stratton made his way through the warehouse, he noticed that there was an unusual smell in the air. He tried to place it but he couldn't think of what it was. As he approached the door that used to lead to the main factory, he noticed that the smell was growing stronger than ever.

"Hello? I am Officer Stratton with the Helena Police Department and I am responding to a disturbance call." He then opened the door and couldn't believe his eyes. "Oh my God!"

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Quantico, Virginia

Agent Aaron Hotchner walked down the halls of the B.A.U. very quickly this morning. Strauss, his boss, had called him to her office to discuss something. Hotchner was afraid that one of his members was going to be kicked off due to the budget cuts he had heard about. And he knew that his team could not be cut down by any number.

Arriving at Strauss' office, Aaron knocked on the door and waited for Strauss to say that he could enter before he took a seat on one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"Aaron, we need to talk about your team." Strauss began.

But, before she could say anything else, Aaron jumped in and said, "Strauss, we can't afford to have any cuts in the team. We are barely managing to solve the cases that we get with the number we have. We can't risk losing a member."

To Hotchner's surprise, Strauss said, "I know. And none of your members are going to be cut. Actually, I need to discuss the other side of the coin with you, if you catch my drift?"

Aaron realized right away what they were going to be discussing, "You want to add another member to the team? Why?"

Strauss sighed before saying, "One, the boys in Washington gave this person high recommendation for the kind of work that happens on your team. Plus, as you just said, your team is barely managing to solve the cases you all get with the number you have."

"So, she is just getting on because the people in Washington are pushing for her to join us?" Aaron asked with a hint of wariness in his eyes. The last thing the team needed now was to deal with a push paper rookie out in the field.

"No, I have reviewed the candidate's information and they have plenty of field experience working with other parts of the F.B.I. and I believe that the candidate is ready for field work immediately." Strauss stated.

Aaron sighed and said, "You have already told this candidate that they are already accepted, didn't you?" Great, now he had Strauss shoving member's onto his team before he could discuss it with his team.

Strauss nodded and said, "Yes I have."

"When will this person get here?"

"She won't." Strauss stated, finally revealing the gender of the new agent but adding another question to it.

"What do you mean? Isn't she going to be coming here to work?" Aaron asked, now confused.

"She will, but she lives in the city where your next case is. I checked it over with JJ to make sure. She will meet you all there." Strauss answered.

Hotch nodded and said, "I need to get with my team. They are already discussing our next case and I will need to tell them about this." He then stood up and headed for the door. Before he left though, Strauss had one last thing to say.

"Oh, and Hotchner, give her a chance. I have a feeling that she will make a great agent."

Hotchner then shut Strauss' door and made his way to the meeting room. When he entered said room, his team mates glanced at him and Morgan asked, "What took you so long Hotch? You were the first one here."

Hotch sighed and said, "Strauss has assigned another agent to our team. The agent will be joining us for this case."

Everyone in the room looked shocked and Reid asked, "Why is she doing that?"

"To help us out since our workload has been getting higher and higher." Hotch answered.

Emily than asked, "If she is helping us with this case, than where is she?"

"She will be joining us at our location because she lives there and it would be easier for her to just meet us there and travel back with us after." Hotch answered.

Garcia then started the briefing, "Ok folks, there have been five murders that have taken place in Helena, Montana over the past two weeks." And as she said this, pictures five girls with black hair showed up on the main screen.

"So why are we investigating?" Rossi asked.

"Well here is why they called us." Garcia started. She pulled up the crime scene photos before saying, "They were all altered to look the same. Short black hair and the ones who didn't already have them were wearing green contacts. Plus the uber disgusting part." Instead of saying what said part was, Garcia clicked a button and said disgusting part was shown on the screen, thanks to more crime scene pictures.

"It seems that each of the victims were hacked open and a different word was painted on the wall in their own blood." Reid stated.

Garcia nodded and said, "On the wall at the crime scene of Sheryl Moore, the first victim, was the word 'ambition', the one at Macy Creed's crime scene was 'belief', the one above Carol Meadow's was 'confidence', 'desire' was above Lucy Landon's, and at Nancy Jones', the newest victim, was the word 'expectancy'."

Morgan stared at the words and asked, "So whoever this is, is writing these words above each victim. Do they have anything to do with the victim?"

Garcia shook her head and said, "Not from what we have learned, Sheryl Moore was already certain of what she wanted so she didn't have ambition for anything, Macy Creed, according to her friends and family, didn't have any beliefs. And you can kind of guess what that means for the others."

"So maybe this unsub is acting out against people who have what he desires and what they throw away." Rossi stated.

Hotch then stood up and said, "According to the report, the time between the attacks is decreasing. If this unsub sticks to this cycle, he will be attacking again soon. Get your go bags. Wheels up in thirty."

The team then dispersed and went to get ready.

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When the SUV's pulled up to the station, the B.A.U. team walked inside the Helena Police Department and went to find the chief of police. When they entered the air conditioned work room, a tall bald man with a concerned look on his face walked up to Hotch and said, "You must be the F.B.I. The name's Bob Robertson and I am the chief of police around here. We have your room set up and your other agent is already in there prepping everything."

Rossi looked at him and asked, "Do you know the agent?"

Robertson nodded and said, "Yeah, she's a character. A little odd but nice."

"What do you mean, 'odd'?" Morgan asked.

"Well, she has a thing for the color black." Robertson answered before walking off.

The team then walked toward the room that Robertson had pointed out. As they neared the room, they were all surprised to hear a very young voice on the other side.

"Crap, why won't this stupid thing stay up?"

Reid opened the door and the team walked in to see a young girl of about seventeen with short black hair and green eyes who was wearing a black t-shirt, dark blue jeans, white tennis shoes with black stripes, and a black cloak was clasped in front of her neck. The clasp was a silver moon.

"Excuse me young lady, have you seen an F.B.I. agent in here anywhere?" Morgan asked. This kid seemed to be getting everything organized.

The girl turned to them with a knowing look in her eyes and said, "Yeah, I have."

"Where at?" Morgan again asked.

Rossi noticed how the girl's behavior seemed to change. At first the girl was worried about their entrance but when Morgan seemed to wonder where the agent was, the girl seemed amused. It was like she was the only one in on some big joke.

The girl than burst out into laughter and had to steady herself with her hand against the table to prevent herself from falling over.

"What is so amusing?" Reid asked.

The girl finally seemed to calm down because she smiled at them and said, "Hey, the name's Hope Valentino. Agent Valentino."

All the team could do was stare at this child, who was supposed to be their new agent.

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**AN: So, I hope you all liked. Please read and review to tell me how I did. If you don't like it, P.M. me please. But no flames please.**


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